A Dallas Congregation Near SMU
Preston Road Church of Christ sits on Preston Road in the Park Cities area of north Dallas, a short distance west of Southern Methodist University and just north of Uptown. The congregation describes itself as medium-sized, large enough to support a wide range of ministries yet small enough that intergenerational friendships are the norm. Members of every age group - from infants in the nursery to adults in their sixties and beyond - share the same building on Sunday mornings, and the staff is built around the conviction that these generations should walk the Christian road together.
The church's motto is simply "Loving God, Loving Others." That double call shapes everything else: the Sunday gathering, the midweek classes, the partnerships with local charities, and the way staff and members think about belonging.
Sunday Rhythm: Bible Classes Then Worship
A Sunday at Preston Road begins at 9:00 AM with Bible classes for every age. Downstairs, the nursery through pre-K children meet for Bible Class while upstairs, K-5th graders gather for their own time. Six adult Bible classes meet on the second floor of the building, organized by life stage:
- Room 200 - Young Professionals, led by Jim Barnett
- Room 202 - Young Families, led by Megan and Heath Beasley, Connor and Laine VanSteenberg, and Tyler and Caroline White
- Room 201 - 30s and 40s, led by JP and Leigh Rindt and Jonathan and Lauren Younger
- Room 206 - 50s and 60s, led by Brian Adkins, Dannelle Holt, and Rick Medford
- Room 207 - 65+, led by Gerald Turner and Cooter Hale
- Room 208 - The Encouragers (60+), led by Rick and Beth Palmer
At 10:00 AM the whole church gathers for the worship service. The service is livestreamed on YouTube. Children ages 3 through 1st grade are dismissed partway through for Kids Journey, a dedicated children's worship time, while the nursery continues to care for ages 0 to 2. After the service, the building stays active with fellowship and further connection.
Mission, Vision, and Core Values
The mission statement is brief: "Love God and Love Others," drawn from Matthew 22:37-39. The vision statement expands on that with four commitments - sharing God's love and the good news of Jesus Christ, growing in Christ-likeness, extending justice and mercy to those in need, and passing on God's story to future generations.
Seven core values give the mission its texture. God's Story anchors the church in the Bible as the central narrative. Faithful Unity is the conviction that a diverse congregation, across racial, economic, and geographic lines, makes for richer faith and stronger community. Innovative Impact pushes the congregation to use its resources in entrepreneurial ways to be salt and light in Dallas. Intergenerational Community is the principle that the many "one another" commands of the New Testament are meant to be lived out across age lines. Compassionate Acceptance names the honest starting point: "There are no perfect people at Preston Road." Personal Transformation points to the Spirit's work over time. Sacrificial Service holds that every Christian has a role to play, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and no two play the same role in the same way.
Beliefs in Brief
Preston Road summarizes its core beliefs on its values page, beginning with the conviction that there is one God, eternally existing as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Bible is the inspired Word of God and the final authority for faith and life. Human beings were created in God's image for an intimate relationship with Him, a relationship broken by sin. God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to reconcile the world through His life, death, burial, and resurrection, and salvation comes as a free gift received through faith and expressed through confession, repentance, and baptism. The Holy Spirit continues to transform believers into the image of Christ. The church is the body of Christ on earth, empowered by the Spirit to reach those who are separated from God and to strengthen those who have been reconciled. And the church looks forward to Christ's return, final judgment, the full restoration of God's image, and life with God forever. The congregation is careful to note that these statements are a summary, not an exhaustive list.
Children's Ministry: An Adventure of Faith
Children's ministry at Preston Road is built around the idea that every child is in the process of becoming more like Jesus and that this is an adventure for the whole family. The church sees its role as partnering with parents so that home and church reinforce one another in shaping a child's faith.
Children's Minister Samantha Campbell, who joined the staff in 2025 after more than twenty years at the Greenville Oaks Church of Christ, oversees a program with five clear convictions: every child needs a Really Big God, every child needs someone else who believes what they believe, every child needs another voice that says what their parents would say, every child needs parents who know where they are spiritually, and every child needs out-of-this-world wisdom to make wise choices. Madi Kate Ross serves alongside her as Children's Ministry Resident.
The Sunday schedule is set up to make the whole morning work for families. Nursery care is available at 10:00 AM for ages 0-2, Bible Class meets at 9:00 AM for ages 0 through 5th grade (nursery through pre-K downstairs, K-5th upstairs), and Kids Journey, the children's worship time, is dismissed from the main worship service for ages 3 through 1st grade.
Youth Ministry: Preparing Real, Yielded Ministers
The Preston Road Youth Ministry is led by Hannah August and James August, a husband-and-wife team. Their goal is summed up in the phrase "Preparing Real, Yielded Ministers" - preparing students with a firm foundation in Christ, encouraging them to show up authentically, helping them live yielded to God's purposes, and forming them as ministers of the gospel.
The youth program meets on Wednesday nights and also gathers throughout the year for camps, mission trips, retreats, and lock-ins. Both Augusts came to Preston Road in 2023; Hannah started as the girls' minister-in-residence and became a Youth Minister in 2025, while James moved from Youth Ministry Resident to Youth Minister in May 2026.
College and Young Adults: Mustangs for Christ
Preston Road places a high value on college students, and the church is well placed to do so - it is only a couple of miles north of Uptown, a mile west of SMU, and within ten minutes of The Village. The church sponsors Mustangs for Christ, a ministry to the students of SMU, and employs a full-time Campus Minister with an office in the Hughes Trigg Center on the SMU campus.
Jim Barnett, the Minister to Young Adults, has been on the Preston Road staff since 2001 and has served in college ministry for the bulk of that time. He is a past president of the board of Campus for Christ, a national organization of Church of Christ campus ministers, and also serves on boards including the Christian Relief Fund, Dallas Christian School, the Dallas Housing Crisis Center, and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. On Sunday mornings, he teaches the Young Professionals class in Room 200 at 9:00 AM, and the church's Adopt-a-Student program pairs SMU students with PRCC families for mentoring and friendship.
Adult Ministry: A Room for Every Stage
Adult Ministry at Preston Road is shaped by Farland Clark, the Adult and Pastoral Care Minister, who joined the staff in 2006 as Children's Minister and moved into his current role in 2016. His work spans the Sunday morning Bible classes (which he helps organize and which serve as the front door of connection for most adults), the connections ministry that links newcomers into serving roles, and pastoral care for families in crisis and grief.
Beyond Sunday morning, two long-standing groups give the men's and women's ministries their rhythm. On the first Tuesday of each month during the school year, the men of Preston Road gather for Iron Tuesday, a Bible study over breakfast at 7:00 AM at either Coffee House Cafe at Frankford and Preston or La Madeleine at Central and Mockingbird. On Tuesday mornings at 10:00 AM during the school year, the women meet for a Ladies Bible Class in the Summit, with childcare provided.
Worship Arts
Worship at Preston Road is led by Worship Minister Jeff Wheeler, a third-generation Preston Road member who has been on staff since 2008 and a 34-year retired veteran of the Dallas Police Department. He directs a worship team of about thirty members whose goal is to lead people into the presence of God through songs of praise and to nurture one another as a small group along the way. The team is open to new members, and a sound and media ministry serves the Sunday assemblies and special events.
Women and Ministry
Throughout the congregation's history, the women of Preston Road have played essential roles. The elders published a 2014 statement acknowledging those roles and laying out the church's view of women in ministry. In their reading, women may teach adult Bible classes as part of the regular curriculum and may participate in the public worship assembly by offering a testimony of personal transformation and by inviting support for or reporting on ministry efforts. The elders view Scripture as limiting the roles of elders and preaching ministers to men, but they emphasize that many other roles in the church can and should be filled by whoever is most gifted and qualified, regardless of gender.
Pastoral Care and the Barnabas Ministry
Farland Clark's pastoral care work extends to families in crisis and grief, and the Barnabas Ministry is the church's internal safety net. Created to help members help members during times of financial difficulty, Barnabas is funded separately from the church budget by members' generosity and is used for things like rent, mortgage payments, utilities, and food. Applications are reviewed in confidence by a team of members.
Local Ministry Partners
Preston Road's sense of being salt and light in Dallas is lived out through a wide circle of partner organizations:
- Arms of Hope serves disadvantaged children and single-mother families through residential care at Medina Children's Home and Boles Children's Home.
- Christ's Family Clinic provides high-quality health care to the uninsured, with its clinic located in the basement of the Preston Road building.
- ChristianWorks builds healthy homes and families through adoption services, grief counseling, and divorce and family counseling, including the BecomingMom program for single young moms that Preston Road supports directly.
- Earl Young's Team raises awareness of the need for bone marrow donors and recruits volunteers for the national registry.
- Lifeline Chaplaincy offers pastoral care from board-certified chaplains and trained volunteers to patients, families, and caregivers in crisis.
- The Human Impact befriends people experiencing homelessness in Dallas, treating them as image-bearers of God and walking with them over the long term.
- Mustangs for Christ is the church's own ministry to SMU students.
- New Friends New Life restores and empowers women and children who have been trafficked or sexually exploited, with access to education, job training, financial assistance, mental health care, and spiritual support.
- ULife Consulting helps campus and college ministries thrive through consultations, rebranding, and coaching.
Senior Minister and Staff
Dr. Josh Kingcade became the senior minister of Preston Road in November 2022. He preaches weekly, provides vision and leadership, and spends pastoral time with members and the wider Dallas community. He grew up in Wichita Falls, holds bachelor's and master's degrees from Oklahoma Christian University, and earned a doctorate from Columbia Theological Seminary. Before Preston Road, he served for more than fourteen years as adult education minister at Memorial Road Church of Christ in Oklahoma City. He began serving on the board of The Christian Chronicle, an international newspaper for Churches of Christ, in 2025.
Alongside him, Jeff Wheeler leads worship, Farland Clark oversees adult ministry and pastoral care, Jim Barnett ministers to young adults and SMU students, Samantha Campbell directs children's ministry with Madi Kate Ross, and Hannah and James August lead the youth ministry. Fran Armour serves as Worship Ministry Assistant.
What a First-Time Visitor Should Know
The Preston Road building is at 6409 Preston Road, Dallas, Texas 75205, and the main phone number is (214) 526-7221. The parking lot is accessible from University Boulevard or McFarlin Boulevard, with reserved spaces for guests, the elderly, and families with small children, plus several designated handicapped spaces. Curbside parking is also available in the surrounding neighborhood. Greeters meet visitors at the main parking lot entrance and at the side doors along McFarlin Boulevard and are ready to point first-timers in the right direction. Visitors who want to be personally welcomed can email Farland Clark ahead of time. Services are livestreamed on YouTube at 10:00 AM each Sunday for those who cannot attend in person, and a Preston Road mobile app is available for download. Giving can be made online, by text, or through the mobile app.
A Congregation in the Story
For nearly three-quarters of a century, Preston Road Church of Christ has taught and lived out the conviction that the people of God are a single body made up of many members, growing up together in Christ. With a senior minister and a staff who see the church's mission through the lens of seven core values, with a building that holds worshipers from infancy through the wisdom years, and with a network of local partners that carries that ministry out into the rest of the city, Preston Road continues to read itself as part of the larger story God is telling.